Straw Basel gardening can destroy your garden .
A bluff title , but it ’s dead on target . And the evidence is climb up .
pale yellow bale garden have taken off over the last tenner or so . I ’ve see some really pretty and canny methods of straw bale gardening . Just a quick Google Image Search will show you deal of beautiful pale yellow bale gardens –
Oh , wait!Joel Karstenstopped in to say I ca n’t utilise a screencap from aGoogle Image Search for straw Basel gardensto illustrate my level :
He makes you need to jump right in , does n’t he ? Great author , too .
Unfortunately , straw Bale ( and hay bales ) can DESTROY your garden for years . How ? have ’s take a spirit .
My bookcovers the problem in-depth
The Hidden Danger of Straw Bale Gardening
Those of you that have n’t readCompost Everything : The Good Guide to Extreme Compostingmay be inquire why in the world I ’d express that husk bale gardening can destroy your garden .
My friendAndi have it away .
My friendLuzette knowsas well , though her gardens were destroyed by manure , not immediately via straw or hay .
My bookcovers the problem in-depth
When I broke the taradiddle of toxic herbicides in manureback in August of 2012 via Natural Awakenings magazine , there were very few the great unwashed that make out this clobber was around or how pervasive it really was . I would n’t have known either … if it had n’t demolish about $ 1000 Charles Frederick Worth of plant .
Since that first clause , the stories keep mounting .
My bookcovers the trouble in - profoundness
Many people are just discovering the dangers. (Amazon review ofCompost Everything)
I love the construct of straw Basel gardening . It ’s slap-up . It ’s a lot of fun and it ’s a quick direction to get a garden going without worrying about meliorate the soil . You could believe wheat bale gardening a form of compost and gardening simultaneously . The grime beneath a pile of rotten hay or chaff improves marvelously after a year or so , leaving a patch of humus - rich angleworm - populated ground .
Yet if that hay or straw came from a field that was sprayed with one or more persistent herbicides such asGrazon(TM)orCleanWave(TM ) , the vegetables in your stubble bale gardens will be wrecked . Not only that , you ca n’t even compost the polluted drinking straw because the toxins ( usually aminopyralid or its full cousin clopyralid ) stick around and will destroy whatever stop up with the result compost .
The realism of modern factory farming is that it ’s husbandry base on poisons . pale yellow , oat , barley and other grain fields , as well as hay fields , are often sprayed with herbicides to control broad - leafage weeds prospicient - term . “ sens ” like blackberries , amaranth , etc . The toxins do n’t set up phallus of the forage family ( grains included ) but they will destroy most garden vegetables quite expeditiously . I ’ve been thanked multiple time from people that have either economise their garden from these poisons – or who had eventually figured out what had bust up their crops .
Many mass are just expose the danger . ( Amazon review ofCompost Everything )
Around my neck of the woods many farmers have discovered the amazing power of these weedkiller to manipulate weeds in their hay fields . They ’re spray everywhere – it ’s unbelievable .
As the grains / grasses grow , they uptake these toxin without harm . Animals can also rake on the fields without seeming issue .
Yet the result stubble and manure still contains a potent dose of plant - killing power – and the toxins can stick around for years .
I ’ve been offered free manure for my garden many times . I ’ve even been assure “ We do n’t spray anything on our fields . ” Yet if those beast are run through hay from the feed fund – or if there ’s husk bedding in the stables – the chances of contamination are very high .
Just say no . You have to . Otherwise affair like this happen to your works :
Nasty .
If you want to start pale yellow bale horticulture , how will you lie with if the straw has been sprayed at some point ? If you have some rotten hay you want to compost , how will you know if it contains deadly toxin or not ?
Eventually , it ’s going to shove off up in your face .
You wo n’t know , the provender store wo n’t know , and good luck tracing the straw bales back to a specific field so you’re able to enquire the original Fannie Farmer if he ’s spray anything within the last twosome of years .
I used to span up all the loose hay and stubble every week or so from the local feed memory after I got permit to scavenge it for my compost slews .
No more .
That ’s a game of Russian toothed wheel you ’re run to lose .
Verdict :
There was a time when straw Basel gardening was a great idea . That clip has passed .
Be safe .
